A Peel Regional Police officer is under investigation by Ontario’s Special Investigation’s Unit after allegedly tasering an 80-year-old woman.

A police issued Taser is displayed at a police station in Victoria, B.C. in 2008. Ontario Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur announced late last month that the province will now allow all frontline officers to carry a Taser.

A day after the Ontario government announced it would permit all frontline officers to wield stun guns, an 80-year-old Mississauga woman was sent to the hospital with a fractured hip after she was allegedly tasered by Peel Regional Police.

The Special Investigation’s Unit, the province’s police watchdog, is looking into the incident.

At around 3:30 a.m. on Aug. 28, police were called to Thomas St. and Erin Mills Pkwy responding to reports of a woman walking along the road.

Three officers spoke with the woman on scene. According to the SIU, the woman was hit with a stun gun by one of the officers and fell to the ground. She was rushed to Credit Valley Hospital and treated for a fractured hip as well as other injuries.

The incident happened a day after the Ontario government announced that all frontline officers would be permitted to carry stun guns. The decision came in the wake of the death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, who was shot eight times and then tasered during a confrontation with Toronto police.

The Ontario government says the changes have been in the works for months and denies they were prompted by Yatim’s death.

Both the Toronto police and Ontario’s ombudsman André Marin have launched probes into the Yatim shooting, which will examine how police use force when dealing with emotionally disturbed people.

Police chiefs in Ontario have long argued that Tasers provide an effective non-lethal alternative to firearms. Until now, only frontline supervisors and tactical officers have been allowed to carry Tasers.

Opponents however contend that Tasers are often used irresponsibly, pointing to the 2007 death of Robert Dziekanski, a Polish man who died after being hit five times by a Taser by the RCMP at Vancouver International Airport.

According to Michael Federico, Toronto’s deputy police chief, Tasers were used more than 270 times in the city last year.

The SIU investigates incidents involving police that result in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

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